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Matthew Pearl discusses his latest novel The Last Dickens
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Author Matthew Pearl; Photo Credit: Sigrid Estrada
Matthew Pearl, the author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow, has a new novel on the shelves of local bookstores. The Last Dickens details the last American tour of Charles Dickens and how his death left publishers with an unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
In The Last Dickens, Charles Dickens' American publisher, James Osgood, embarks on a journey to find the end of Dickens' unfinished novel to save his firm and stave off the bookaneers who steal and pirate exclusive novels. Savvy Verse & Wit says, "What sets this novel apart from its compatriots is Pearl's ability to build suspense and extrapolate from historical events to create a palpable underbelly of the publishing world."
Matthew Pearl agreed to take time out of his busy schedule and answer some interview questions.
What first gave you the idea to write The Last Dickens?
I actually had the idea while writing my second novel, The Poe Shadow. In my research, I read about a meeting Poe had with Charles Dickens, in which they probably discussed mystery writing. To be a fly on that wall! That planted the seed in my brain to think about Dickens and mystery together, which of course led me to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, something I hadn't yet read myself.
When writing the novel, did you have storyboards or index cards to keep the plots and characters straight? If so, what kind of information would you list?
The novel has two distinct narrative threads that ultimately intertwine: the main thread takes place after Dickens's death when his publisher James Osgood is searching for the ending to his last novel, and the secondary thread shows Dickens touring the United States shortly before his death. I used index cards only for the sections of the novel with Dickens in the U.S. The research on Dickens's tour was incredibly in-depth--it was covered in great detail by the media at the time--and I had to keep track of dates and events. Obviously, I wasn't showing every moment of Dickens's six month tour, but I would list as many details as I could so as not remember where my scenes fell in the timeline.
The plot involving Francis Dickens, son of Charles Dickens, makes very few appearances, what prompted you to include those sections and what do you think they add to the novel?
I see a parallel between the growth of the opium trade, which Frank Dickens would have been protecting in India, and the publishing industry, which much of the novel focuses on. Of course, they eventually come together, too, and I liked the idea of having that connection in two very different worlds.
Have you read The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens and if so, what were your impressions and how do you think it would have ended?
I've now lost count of how many times I've read The Mystery of Edwin Drood! I actually edited a new edition of it published by Modern Library, for which I did an introduction. We'll never know how it would have ended, though Dickens did leave some clues behind. One of my opinions on the matter is that Dickens might have still been weighing his options had had some competing ideas for the ending, the luxury of the serial writer.
For more reviews of The Last Dickens, please check out Bookish Ruth, Book Chatter and Other Stuff, Savvy Verse & Wit, and Musings of a Bookish Kitty.
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